For anyone interested in mainland politics, recent developments have made for both fascinating and puzzling reading.
It is fascinating because the signs of division within the Communist Party over its future direction and its history are becoming increasingly public in the run-up to the 90th anniversary of the party in July and, more importantly, to a significant party congress to approve top leadership changes scheduled for the autumn of next year.
So-called conservatives and moderates are engaging delicately in the state media - but they are openly slugging it out and trading barbs in internet chat rooms and on blogs. To top it off, the political rumour mill is in overdrive, churning out all kinds of comments that highlight divisions within the party and create more confusion.
This has come at a time when the mainland's social fabric is being stretched to the limit, demonstrated by the ongoing massive protests against social injustices seen in the normally staid Inner Mongolia and in last week's suicide bombing in Jiangxi .
But what do those developments mean? And should overseas investors be concerned?
Making sense of the mainland's notoriously opaque politics is always difficult, but the new developments suggest the party is undergoing a painstaking, intense search for ways to reshape itself and consolidate its grip on the world's second-largest economy. They also signal changes in mainland politics that require outsiders to read about it in a new light.